Noirot Didier

Born in France in 1957, Didier’s passion for
photography and diving began early. Trained at the Glénans dive center with
Jeff Tréhiou, he became an instructor in 1982. He then entered the Club
Méditerranée where he taught underwater photography techniques for three years.

In November 1986, the real underwater adventure
begins, when he joins Jacques Cousteau’s prestigious crew. Hired as
photographer, his first expedition takes him to New Zealand, where he discovers
the hostile universe of the southern 50th parallel. One expedition ends and
another begins: Polynesia, Australia, Papau New Guinea.

The film crew, led by
Michel Deloire, has just left to dive on the reef. I chose another destination
that winter morning: the pearl farms. At the time I am the official
photographer of the expedition and this is pretty much my only opportunity to
shoot pictures of this sumptuous site.

Maupiti has filled my tank
and the Zodiac’s, we are ready to leave. At the moment our craft leaves the
side of the Calypso, a voice calls from the alleyway.

- Hep! Over there! Where
are are you going? JYC had temporarily suspended my voyage to wonderland.

- Well Captain, I’m going
to take photos, I remind you that I am the photographer and that you pay me for
that!

- You’re tiring me with
your photos, make movies!

A heavy silence settled in
for a moment.

- I don’t know how your
cameras work, there isn’t even have a viewfinder!

- Rrrrrraaa… just like a machine gun, he replied, imitating the
movement.

- And for the f-stop?

- Set it to 5.6 and Telcipro will do the rest!

So began my first lesson in underwater filming. Short, but coming from
Cousteau, powerful. Don’t worry, the images shot on that day are spectacular
and were used in the movie “Tahiti: Fire Waters”.

Borneo, Polynesia, Australia, Papua New Guinea,
Indonesia, Philipines, Thaïland, Vietnam, Andaman Islands, Madagascar, South
Africa, Siberia… In 1998 he leaves the Cousteau Society after a last expedition
to the Caspian Sea with Sir Peter Blake.

Since
then, Didier has participated in many famed archaeological documentaries, as
well as with the “Blue Planet” series, for which he receives an Emmy Award, and
other series such as Earth, Frozen Planet, Nature Great Events… Didier has also
co-directed documentaries and participated in many other expeditions since,
perhaps one of the most famous being the Oceans movie by Jacques Perrin.

After several expeditions to the poles of the planet,
diving and filming throughout the entire world, Didier is today more than ever
an active explorer and underwater film artist, currently working on a series
about some of the most majestic creatures of the oceans, whales, called Ocean
Giants.